Tuesday, September 18, 2012

How the Owl Tree... was made!

 I always love to see how things are built or the "Behind the scenes" pictures.  So I wanted to share with you how I made the Paper Mache tree for the Owl Party.

When I started out with this Owl party, I had so many ideas I wanted to do for it.  As I thought about the dessert table, I kept thinking, if only I had a cute tree with an Owl house in it for the display.  But how would I make a tree??  I kept thinking about Paper Mache.  I have never done paper mache but thought why not give it a try?

I first started with some Chicken wire that I cut and twisted and shaped the best I could to resemble a tree trunk.  I had some left over wire that I wired on the roots at the bottom... (at this point as I was wrestling with the tree trunk, my little Ava asked, "Mom what are you doing?" Me: "I'm making a tree!" Aves: Mom, that doesn't look like a tree!"  Me: "I know :)"

and then I wired on some branches for the top.  I next covered it in tin foil... (The branches reminded me of Moose Antlers at this point.)


Once I got it covered with tin foil, I then added some additional branches with tin foil... (at this point I think it looked like it was from Outer Space.)

Next came the messy part!  I mixed up a paper mache paste with flour, water and some elmer's glue.  
I then used paper towels and some paper, dunked them in the paste and covered the tree.  It became quite heavy at the top and some of the branches had to come off.  The branches that I could save, I propped up while it dried.  Here is the pre-painted paper mache tree... (Ryan said at this point, it resembled a Sea anemone.)

Next I painted it brown...

At this point I needed to figure out how to get some leaves on the branches.  I took some tin foil and crumpled it up into balls that I covered with felt to resemble pillows.  I glued the felt pillow- looking things to different branches.  Once I had those in place, I cut several leaves out of felt and glued them on the pillows...

Once I had it covered with the leaves.  I next needed a little Owl house. I wanted it to kind of look like Owl's house from Winnie the Pooh.  I stayed up late one night and made the little house out of some scrap wood I had left over. Here is a shot of it being built...

Once I had it built, complete with crooked trim and all, I painted it and made a little banner to hang across the front and placed it in the tree...

Here is the tree completed...

And this is how it looked at the Party...  If you would like to see more of the Owl party you can see it here or click on the photo below...

This tree was fun to do. To be honest, there were times I really didn't know how it was going to turn out, but I think in the end it worked out alright and the girls loved it at the party.  It helped to tie everything together!

Thanks again for reading and following.
With Much Love & Gratitude,


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3 comments:

  1. How long did it take you to make this? And could you please give a little bit more info about the velt pillows? :)

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    Replies
    1. Please let me know as soon as you get this :) it's for a school project

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    2. Oh I am so sorry I just got this. I was very ill during the month of January. It took me about a week to complete the tree project. The Felt Pillows, I just used a little bit of batting say 5-7 inches in diameter and about 3-4 inches thick, then I cut some felt bigger than the amount of batting and I covered the batting and glued it together on the back of each of the pillows. I then glued the pillows to each of the branches of the tree. Once the pillows were on , then i cut and glued the leaves to the pillows. That was really about it. Hope this helps and sorry, I did not get this response to you sooner, as I noted before, I was very ill in january and did not see this email. good luck.

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